


He Picked Me?

by dragonyfox



Series: The Chronicles of the Wendigo Kids [4]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, semi-angst??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 22:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5022412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonyfox/pseuds/dragonyfox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Josh realizes that Chris didn't make the decision he was supposed to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Picked Me?

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by smth my roomie said, i dont even remember what anymore tbh. this is set TWO DAYS after theyve gotten off of the mountain.
> 
> oh, and yeah, i'm fudging canon a little but i mean. its fanfic, i'm allowed to!

Sam had been the one to find the box.

The eight of them had gotten out of their interviews just the night before. Mike and Sam had reluctantly placed the blame on the dead stranger, and so the authorities had decided that there was no way the malnourished and injured teens had done anything illegal. Chris had been against it, but had been overruled.

All of their parents had seen how attached and nearly codependent they had become of each other, and Josh’s parents had offered to host them all.

Josh was still downstairs being cried on by his mother, and Ashley was supporting him. Mike, Matt, Jess, and Emily were all knocked out cold on the living room couches, and Chris and Sam had gone upstairs to hunt for blankets and pillows.

She’d found the box in Josh’s closet, where he kept his spare comforter, and it had been labelled “MT BW PRANK”.

“Oh, god,” Sam said as she finally registered what she was looking at, “oh my god.”

Chris shifted the mound of blankets he was holding. “What?”

“I found…” she said, opening it, “well, I think I found Josh’s plans. For the prank.”

“What?” Chris demanded, dumping the blankets on the floor. “Let me see!”

Sam shoved the box to him, and he started rifling through it, pulling out bits as he went. The two of them ended up surrounded by messy blueprints on lined paper, printed recipes for fake blood, a notebook filled with fake news stories, and sketches of Hannah and Beth.

“Jesus,” Chris whispered, holding the last piece of paper he’d taken from the box.

Sam gently took it from him, and read it.

_Cochise,_

_I’m sorry, bro. If you read this and don’t hate me I’m sorry. But! Hey, man, at least you got Ashley. Or should, if you quit being an idiot and take the opportunities I gave you. I know that you’re still probably going to be angry with me, though, and I’ll deserve it._

_I know this prank is fucked up, but you all need to understand how I felt this past year. Every time I pass their rooms, I feel like they’re going to jump out and yell “surprise!”_

_But they won’t. They’re gone._

_Hopefully, my goretastic prank will work as intended, and you’ll finally understand._

_Josh_

 

“Jesus,” Sam echoed.

“He was reaching out for help and we didn’t even realize it, you know that, right?” Chris said softly.

“Yeah, I do,” Sam replied. “I can’t believe I didn’t catch on. I feel so stupid, you know? I mean, his more subtle attempts aside, the video, and all the things he was saying before it all started…”

Chris put his head in his hands. “Yeah. I feel fucking awful. I mean, what he did was super awful too. I thought he was dead, for god’s sake. I didn’t even-!”

Sam watched him carefully. “You didn’t even what?”

“Don’t tell Ash,” Chris said, as quietly as he could, “but when Josh made me pick between him and her, I didn’t pick her. The saw was rigged to- to- to go the other way no matter what.”

“Jesus, Chris.”

He laughed humorlessly. “I like to think I made up for it when I turned the gun on myself, though. The whole fucking situation was awful.”

“Jesus, Chris,” Sam repeated. “Are you going to tell her, or are you going to live with the guilt for the rest of your life?”

Chris shrugged. “Hell if I know. I mean, I think she’d understand? Now that we’re safe and it’s all over anyway, but I don’t… I don’t want to hurt her any more than I want to hurt Josh. Then again, I also want to strangle him for the whole thing, but that can wait until he’s better.”

Sam shook her head. “I know what you mean. I think you should tell Ashley soon. If you wait too long, and she finds out, she’s going to be more hurt than if you just tell her now.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll tell her tomorrow, when we’re all feeling a little more alive,” Chris said, shoving Josh’s plans back into the box.

They finished their hunt for blankets, and joined their friends again.

 

Over breakfast, Sam had given Chris a Look.

He hung his head. “Ashley, can I talk to you in the living room?”

Ashley frowned suspiciously, but said, “Sure, Chris.”

Chris sat her down on the couch.

“What’s up, Chris?” she asked, touching his knee. “You look really upset. Are you alright?”

He put his hand over hers. “I have to tell you something about the prank.”

She pulled away from him. “Chris?”

“I’m not going to insult you by asking if you remember the saw prank,” he said, “but I turned the gun on myself later for two reasons. The first, is that I didn’t want to hurt you, ever.”

“Chris…” Ashley said warningly.

“And the second is because I picked Josh.”

Her eyes watered. “You what?”

Chris wrapped his arms around his stomach. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to pick at all, but I was trapped, and you guys were trapped, and it was already moving. I didn’t want to pick!”

“Jesus, Chris,” Ashley said, getting up to pace, “Jesus Christ…”

“I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, she turned mid step, and punched him as hard as she could.

He reeled back from the force, and clutched his cheek. “I deserved that. Hell, I probably deserve more than that.”

“You’re an ass,” Ashley said harshly.

Chris nodded.

Then she hugged him.

“Ash?”

“Thank you for being honest. I’m still upset with you, but you did try to shoot yourself to save me, and you’ve known Josh way longer than you’ve known me, so I guess I understand. But don’t try it again, or I’ll be the one shooting you, got it?”

He buried his head in her shoulder. “Got it.”

 

Sam, later than afternoon, cornered Josh.

“I found your box,” she said without preamble.

“Fuck.”

 She placed his hands on his shoulders and shook him. “Why didn’t you say anything? We’re your friends, Josh! You know I knew how you felt when we lost Hannah and Beth! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said.

Sam pulled him to her chest and crushed him in a hug. “Jesus, Josh, I’m so sorry you felt like you were alone. Me and Chris, both. You know that, right?”

Josh mumbled something against her head.

“Josh?”

“Yeah, I know,” he said softly. “I, um. I kinda pushed Chris away. He’s been involved in some of my other pranks, and he’d have caught me. I didn’t want to be caught. I just…”

“You wanted us to feel how you felt,” Sam finished. “You said that that night, and in the letter you left for Chris.”

Josh groaned. “You read that? Shit.”

Sam shook him again to regain his attention. “Look, next time you do this, you need to let either me or Chris in. we’d have helped you, you know that? I may not have approved, and I’d have tried to talk you out of it, but I would have helped. And you know Chris would have, too.”

“I know,” Josh said, “but I didn’t want him to. Part of the stupid prank was to get him with Ashley. That was the only part of the plan that worked, even if it wasn’t as intended.”

Sam laughed. “Think of it as giving him a two for one deal. And I think the two of them will be good for you, too. As long as, you know, you trust them and talk to them when you’re feeling off.”

Josh gave her a lopsided smile. “Yes ma’am.”

She shoved him playfully. “Alright, let’s get you back to your lovebirds. I’m damn glad that Ashley didn’t freak out on Chris this morning.”

He flinched. “Did he…?”

“He told her, yeah,” Sam confirmed. “I heard some of what they said, and they seemed alright when they got back. You should apologize to Chris for making him have to choose, though. He still feels awful for picking you over Ashley.”

Josh stopped. “He picked me?”

Sam frowned at him. “Yeah. Didn’t you know?”

“No, I-” He shook his head. “The thing was rigged. No matter what he did with the lever, it was always going to go to me. But- he was supposed to pick Ashley!”

Before she could reply, Josh ran down the stairs shouting for Chris.

 

“Chris!”

Chris jumped up. “What? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Josh slammed into him, wrapping his arms around Chris’ chest, and started babbling nonsense. Chris took a second to catch his breath as best he could.

“Josh, bro, take a second and then tell me what’s up,” Chris said, rubbing Josh’s back.

Josh hiccupped. “You picked me!”

Chris froze, looking at Ashley; she smiled sadly, and waved him on.

“Yeah, bro,” Chris finally said, “I did. I didn’t want to pick at all, but…”

Josh was just barely coherent. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that! It was awful and I know you hate picking between things and I didn’t think you’d ever pick me!”

He wasn’t making sense, and it took Chris a moment to understand what he was talking about. When he did, he wanted to tell him it wasn’t just that he hated picking things. He hated the idea of having to choose between two people he loved. But Josh was upset enough that explaining that would take a while and might upset him further, so Chris kept the thought to himself.

Chris rubbed his back gently. “Hey, it’s- well, it’s not alright. But it’s over now. Ashley forgave me, so I forgive you. Just- next time you get some crazy idea like that, tell me?”

Josh nodded frantically.

“Alright!” Mike said, deliberately ruining the moment, “how about we watch a movie? Does Pacific Rim sound good?”

“Sounds good,” Sam said as she came down the stairs. “I think we need a good, kick-ass happy ending movie after all this shit that’s happened.”

 


End file.
